This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2007.
Stop asking for change. Get a Job!
In any other city this would be a cruel statement. But in Halifax Tim Hortons needs so many people there can’t be such a thing as ‘homeless.’ Here are some suggestions to get rid of this problem:1. Sue the street people for Harrassment (exception: If t
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Amen. Real poverty around the globe is a massive problem but for the most part, this is just chosen lifestyle BS. This is Canada, there are many programs, many opportunities and basically no reason for someone to be on the streets for anything but a very limited time.
i agree for the most part – we need to focus on getting people off the streets. whether it be that they are they for mental reasons or choice – we are not a third world country- we have facilities and programs and jobs. i say this with compassion because there are alot of us out there who are only a pay check or 2 away from homelessness ourselves and i would not want to wish that on any one.
Lets look at the problems:Canada has a surplus of food.Canada has dirty highways and litter on the street.You have people bumming and are ‘homeless’.The solution is simple.Have a van patrol the streets and any squeege kid, or pan handler out there you round up and draft them to community service. You send them up the highways and roadways and have them clean up the litter. Have normal citizens train as formen armed with rubber bullets to quell any uppitiness and at the start and end of every day you feed them the old food that was normally going to waste.That way everyone wins!Food producers no longer has a surplus so they can keep their prices high enough to earn them a decent living.No more beggers fucking around the street corners making you want to kill a puppy out of blind rage.No more homeless.Jobs are created!And the best part, after the day is done, you put them back in the van to sleep so they can sleep in a warm van with a full belly.EVERYONE WINS!!!
You’re preaching to the choir. I’m tired of people expecting something for nothing. Just ask them to get a fucking job and you’ll see how active they can suddenly get.
Everyone seems to have something to say about homelessness… how many of you would hire someone who had no fixed address? Who had tatty clothes? Who perhaps had very poor social skills? Who could provide absolutely no references? Who had no job experience? Who had multiple and visible piercings and tattoos? And if you WOULD make the hire – why the heck aren’t you out there offering jobs instead of standing back in smug complacency and criticising?!
You just don’t get it. Look at some of these vultures close up – tattered clothes, my ass. Many of them have better footwear than I do, are smokers and I’ve seen a couple with cell phones. So get off your high horse. No, I wouldn’t hire them for the same reason no one would hire me if I looked and acted like a loser.
you can’t get a job in this city, or this country unless you have a ‘permanent’ place of residence. I’ve gotten to know a few of these ‘bums’ on spring garden, they usually sleep in parkades/garages/homes/friends houses but its usually something different each night, how can you get a job with that? and yo, moron, usually someone buys them coffee, like ME, or it gets donated, why don’t you fucking ask before judging?and honestly, would you rather spend your last 10 dollars on a pack of smokes or some food? a pack of smokes can atleast last you a few days and keeps the hunger down.ALSO, the salvation army/value get a LOT of free shit that is donated to these individuals, this isn’t to say that there aren’t indidivuals taking advantage of this, I’ve known of a couple who lived on colby drive with their parents, 2 cars in the driveway, but begging for change on spring garden! stay away from these rich young brats but stop hatin, you don’t know their life, you don’t know their circumstances, stop judging with you priveleged freaks.
i think some of u r confusing the ‘kids’ who hang around ‘selling’ with people who r legitimatly ‘down & out”Sue the street people for Harrassment’great solution, i wonder how long it would take 2 collect ….if u won
Do what everybody else does, lie.Have a fake address, then when you save your money you can afford a slum area.Then you tell them that you moved.How hard is that? They don’t deserve a job because they are too stupid to have one.
There’s a halarious homeless woman that I see often outside Tim’s on Barrington, and you can totally tell that she’s out of her mind crazy but she always cracks me up so I give her a little change now and then. If you dont give her money she goes “have a good day regardless!” it’s great. But I’m sick of being asked for change every two seconds.
I wonder if anyone realizes the phenomenon of “homelessness” This isn’t something that just happens, there are many social factors that play a role in creating what we see on the Willow Tree intersection daily. I don’t have the answers and I don’t give $$. I think making bumming for money profitable enables the behavior, however, I don’t think placing blame on any one individual or thing is correct either. Bitching is a great way to vent but it’s instant gratification that has no resolution to it. I wonder why so many of you Coast readers think that this is an individual problem and not a community one.